Sport: Dampening the Olympic Torch

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The other bright moments in the dim U.S. track and field chronicle belonged to Hurdler Rod Milburn of Opelousas, La., and Long Jumper Randy Williams of Compton, Calif. Milburn, who sports a bushy Afro and mutton-chop sideburns, barely landed third spot on the team. But he made no mistakes in Munich, sweeping over the 100 meter hurdles in the world-record-equaling time of 13.2 sec. to defeat the fleet Frenchman Guy Drut. Williams —all 5 ft. 10 in., 152 lbs. of him—felt his leg pop during warmups, but managed a whopping leap of 27 ft. ½ in. on his first try. At 19, he became the youngest Olympian ever to win the event.

Meanwhile, the Soviets could leave Munich boasting of at least three superlatives. Gold Medal Weight Lifter Vasily Alexeyev qualified as the world's strongest human. Valery Borzov, whose victory in the 100-meter dash had seemed somewhat hollow because of the disqualification of the U.S.'s Robinson and Hart, legitimately claimed the title of world's fastest human by breezing to a 200-meter victory in 20.0 sec. over American Larry Black. Nikolai Avilov, who broke Bill Toomey's 1968 decathlon record by amassing 8,454 points in the grueling two-day, ten-event competition, became the finest all-round athlete. And the title of the world's fastest female clearly belonged to East Germany's Renate Stecher, 22, who dominated the field in the 100-and 200-meter dashes.

While the Russians and East Germans were piling up medals, as expected, in such events as volleyball, canoeing, riding and weight lifting, the U.S. counted heavily for more gold on two staples: boxing and basketball. Both U.S. teams ultimately disappointed. Heralded Heavyweight Duane Bobick was crushed by Cuba's devastating Teofilo Stevenson, and Welterweight Jesse Valdez, flashiest fighter on the card, lost a split semifinal decision to Emilio Correa, also of the rugged Russian-coached Cuban team. Bantamweight Ricardo Carreras and Middleweight Marvin Johnson were also eliminated in the semis, leaving Light Welterweight Ray Scales of Tacoma, Wash., as the only American finalist.

But no Olympic setback, however frustrating or humiliating, quite compared with the U.S. basketball team's 51-50 loss to the Soviet Union, the first defeat by an American team since basketball became an Olympic sport in 1936. U.S. Coach Hank Iba vehemently protested the victory on the grounds that the Russians had gotten a second chance to score the winning basket in the game's confused closing seconds. Despite the furor, the jubilant Russians appeared to have another gold medal.